Infected what? You should probably get that checked out.
Infected Wounds? Don’t bother.
Let me back up a second. I had plans last night to hit 80 with some measure of fanfare—maybe a cleverly positioned turn-in screenshot , makeouts, tequila shots, or high fives. Instead, I found myself rushing back to Dalaran so that I could port to Stormwind for training, respeccing, glyphs, chants, and consumables—and then take my timely summon to Naxxramas.
When Lycentia dinged 80 last night, he almost instantly received a tell asking if he’d tank Naxx—and that they needed another tank-type as well. Awesome guy that he is, he informed the group that he’d have another capable tank in about ten quest turn-ins, and that’s how it all started.
My hybrid leveling build evolved into this tanking build: 0/60/11. This is essentially a no-brainer core Bear build with all the requisite ass-kicking talents selected. You may notice that I put all five points in Furor rather than dividing them between that and MotW. Why? In my limited experience tanking at 80, the three points in Furor were all but worthless. It’s far more efficient to shapeshift quickly for that guaranteed initial Rage boost—the quicker your DPS can start, the quicker you can finish.
Improved Mark of the Wild isn’t worth unceremoniously dumping though, especially if you’re looking forward to 10 mans where class slots will be at a premium. As a Feral Druid, you might be the ONLY Druid in the raid, unable to rely on the token Resto or Boomkin to swoop in with extra talent points and reagents. I pointedly picked up 5/5 Furor because I was jumping into Naxxramas without any prior preparation and wanted something I could rely on. In the future, I’ll likely swing back in favor of optimization and pick up 2/2 Improved Mark of the Wild.
My build also boasts 3/3 Infected wounds. In theory it sounds fantastic; in reality, it’s rendered useless when half the mobs in Naxxramas are immune and you have a Warrior using Improved Thunderclap. With those kinds of odds stacked against me, I see little benefit in keeping Infected Wounds when I can shift those three points into Feral Aggression for iRoar. You might be thinking, “Oh, but Warriors can pick up Improved Demoralizing Shout too!” Well, you’re right—but they potentially have more to lose. For Lycentia to rearrange his talents and pick up Improved Demoralizing Roar, he loses some stellar threat generating talents: Cruelty or Incite. The counter argument details that extra threat isn’t as crucial as it used to be; tanks have little problem holding aggro these days. By giving up a few threat boosting talents, he’s picking up better mitigation.
But what would I do with those extra three points if I didn’t pick up Feral Aggression? I could pick up Shredding Attacks for those DPS moments (of which there were many when I wasn’t tanking) and maybe drop a throwaway point into Brutal Impact or Predatory Instincts. At best, I can still only offer 3/5 Feral Aggression (~505 AP reduction) versus Lycentia’s full ~575—but it’s still looking better than it used to.
Got a Warrior and a plan? I recommend: 0/60/11.
Wow, I remember reading that infected wounds was going to be the highest attack speed debuff in raid. From looking at stuff on wowhead that really doesn’t seem to be the case, that sucks
I still think shredding attacks would be a better investment than feral aggression. The energy savings on shred are immense and really what will allow you to keep good rip cycles going or even take advantage of the new bleed FB mechanic with rend and tear that you picked up.
I largely agree with you (especially RE: IW being a massive disappointment); however, my primary function will be tanking, not DPSing.
Yeah, I too am raid MT, but still find myself with many DPS situations. I’ll probably take resto as my dual spec, I’m thinking since there always seems to be a healing crunch it will be more useful to the raid so I think its important to keep that cat flex in the spec when you can.
I really don’t find IMotW useful really in my situation, I think I can count on one hand the amount of 25s I’ve been on that I’ve been the only druid. I just hand a stack or two of quill to casting druid at the beginning of the raid.
I’m not sure if you’ve tried a Mangle heavy rotation (which does require the two-piece T6 bonus), but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I did a very respectable amount of damage when I managed all my cooldowns/timers correctly. I’m honestly more concerned about my mitigation than I am with providing top-notch DPS in a pinch.
That being said, I actually may go with a Balance dual-spec (unless we’re in a super healing pinch). With our pointed dearth of melee classes, having the extra Balance buffs for our casters would be spectacular.
The issue with one-druid-in-a-raid is more pronounced in 10 mans, which I think I referenced.
That’s pretty much the build I’ll be using as well, minus the Feral Aggression. Like the above poster, I’ll PROBABLY sink 2 of the points into Shredding attacks…. although I’m not convinced that it is the cat’s ass anymore. I hope to theorycraft that later.
It’s all about optimization. Obviously if Lycentia goes iShout, I won’t have to pick up FA. I haven’t been able to spend a lot of time dicking around with Shred while leveling or tanking (clearly), but I’ve been somewhat amazed at the numbers I can put out with the proper DPS rotation…using Mangle. It relies heavily on having at least the 2pc. T6 bonus, but you can almost Mangle spam till your face falls off. It’s a little hilarious.
Figuring out Shred won’t be too difficult, IMO. I just need some quality time with one of those practice dummies and WWS.
Also, 14k FB???? Dag, yo.
3/5 Furor is fine. And 2/2 iMotW is a great boost to the rest of the group. Shift twice if you don’t get the initial 10 rage. I do that all the time.
Frankly, I miss Intensity more than 5/5 Furor. Having 20 rage before using enrage was really nice. Tell DPS to wait a second. The good ones know better. The a-holes deserve to die.
Thanks for the IW talk. I’ve been torn about taking it or picking up some more Cat DPS talent (like PI or shredding attacks) or a iLotp (I don’t have it in my current build)
Yeah, as I mentioned, it was a snap decision I made in the ten minutes between dinging 80 and taking my summon when I really had no idea what I was walking into. We also, at one point, had another Druid with iMotW to take care of it. But regardless, yes, it’s worth taking for optimization purposes if you’re the only dr00d in your raid group.
I could write a book about my experiences in telling DPS to wait a second, and then kicking back and watching as they don’t and get themselves killed. There’s a fine line between letting a few people get smacked around and simultaneously pissing off the entire raid group, regardless of whether or not it’s deserved. I’ve been there, trust me. Even superb DPSers jump the gun sometimes.
I realize that the IW “dissertation” wasn’t very technical or fraught with polynomial equations, but it pretty much comes down to “does it even WORK?” Unfortunately, the answer was almost resoundingly “No.” For five-mans and PVP, I’m sure it’s worth picking up, but in Naxx I only saw it apply to a few trash mobs, and that’s it. IMO, I’d pick up iLotP before throwing around a couple points in PI or SA.
I miss Intensity a lot these days with 2/2 iMotw and 3/5 Furor. The double shift is a great ideal, i’ll do it now. =]
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Elfkilla Gorefiend-US
IW and iTC don’t stack (for obvious reasons) and the application of one might in large part depend on the application of the other since both are present.
If you had one stack of IW on a mob, and your warrior hits it with iTC, in theory the TC should overwrite the IW, IW should drop off the debuff list, and it would look like you had never applied it. This would be especially true if that happened in very rapid succession.
Because many undead bosses are immune to disease, you’re likely seeing the immune procs only from the movement speed slowing effect. According to certain sources (random comments on wowhead), bosses that are immune to disease are NOT immune to the attack speed slowing effect from IW.
It’s still not worth picking up if you run with a warrior since most of them will have iTC.
I mentioned that, I believe. The issue is that I wasn’t seeing stacks go up on most mobs, period (even when they weren’t being overwritten by iTC). It’s a great talent to take for five-mans and for PVP, but I think that most raiding scenarios will render it useless.
I would, however, be interested to see if that attack speed slowing effect is still happening since I wasn’t seeing the stacks apply.
The main reason I’ll be taking IW is that I plan on doing a lot of heroics. After I’m done with doing that nonsense though, I’ll spec out of it. And I may be done with that nonsense a lot sooner than I think, given how easy it is to go directly to Naxx.
That’s currently why I haven’t gotten rid of it either, but it’ll be going the way of the buffalo as soon as Lycentia and I pick up our heroic upgrades and move into Naxx on a consistent basis (because obviously, the other night was a surprise). We’re still debating who’s going to move points around for iShout/Roar.
I’m curious… is anyone is considering dumping IW and two points of KotJ for Natural Shapeshifter and Master Shapeshifter?
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=0ZxGGscrzceRc0kAo0Eczb